Heritage Counts is the annual State of the Historic Environment Report produced by English Heritage on behalf of the wider heritage sector. It contains data and new research relating to the quality and extent of our historic assets, the social and economic benefits they bring, and the threats that they are under. Each year focuses on a topic or issue.
Heritage Counts 2003 was published in November 2003, and updated the data information presented in the original State of the Historic Environment Report (2002). Nine regional Heritage Counts documents were published alongside the national document .
As the report demonstrates, the historic environment can be central to the drive for sustainable development. For example, the re-use of historic buildings can represent a far more sustainable use of resources than their demolition and replacement with new buildings. Research in Heritage Counts 2003 suggests that the embodied energy in a typical Victorian dwelling is equivalent to 15,000 litres of petrol – enough to send a car five times round the earth. Moreover, the report also shows that a Victorian terraced house can be cheaper to maintain over the long-run than a house built in the 1980s. Imaginative refurbishment of empty homes can make a real difference to promoting quality of life and sustainable communities.
Other key points to note from this year’s Heritage Counts report include:
- The threats to the historic environment, for instance from piecemeal unregulated development in conservation areas and the neglect or development of historic parks and gardens
- The economic benefits of heritage tourism
- Heritage volunteering contributes an estimated £25 million per year to the economy
- More evidence about the barriers that prevent people from participating in heritage activities
Download the 2003 summary leaflet or find out about this years Heritage Counts via the links in the right hand column.
Visit the Heritage Counts website at:www.heritagecounts.org.uk
